1. Field
One or more embodiments of the present invention generally relate to image encoding and decoding, and more particularly, to an image encoding apparatus and an image decoding apparatus, whereby a reference image is stored in a memory after its size is reduced in order to reduce the number of operation cycles required for a write operation and a read operation for the reference image.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a video codec, a reconstructed image of a previous frame has to be stored in order to perform motion prediction or motion compensation on a current frame. The reconstructed image of the previous frame is usually stored in an external memory located outside the video codec because of its large data size. It is a general feature that the number of operation cycles required for a read operation or a write operation from or to the external memory is greater than that of operation cycles required for an arithmetic operation performed within the video codec.